Feature Selection in Learning to Rank for Listwise Approach using Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm

Information retrieval systems commonly depend on ranking models to prioritize search results, which requires efficient feature selection to improve accuracy. Feature selection improves the model's query relevance ranking by selecting the most relevant features. This unique method avoids diluting the ranking model with unnecessary variables, resulting in more accurate ranks. The proposed approach consists of three separate stages: multi-objective instance selection, feature selection, and ensemble method. By utilizing a listwise methodology, the algorithm directly enhances the optimization of ranking criteria resulting in enhanced performance. The effectiveness of FS-listwise was evaluated using standardized datasets. After conducting experiments, results shown that the proposed method have peak performance than MOFSRank and classical ranking algorithms, such as ListNet and LambdaMART, in terms of Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain and consistently selecting a minimal yet highly effective feature set.